Since a few years now, the digital signage market has undoubtedly become a means for mainstream communication. Although most LED signage campaigns are about retail advertising, information-based applications are now growing at a fast pace.
Before getting into the trends of 2019, a couple of embracing digital signage promises should be kept in mind:
- A better viewer’s experience
- Viewers to act through modification of behavior
All the diverse things that digital signage is capable of doing should be viewed through these two main objectives.
Now let’s look at the what the digital signage market will go into this year.
Advertising drive via omnichannel marketing
Omnichannel marketing is not just about the advertisement itself, it takes into account how the business model is delivered. Because the Internet and smartphones are taken over by other media, and with the existence of brick-and-mortar businesses, there are a multitude of ways in which customers interact with a business. Hence omnichannel marketing should focus on providing a flawless experience to customers across all channels – website, smartphone and brick-and-mortar.
Experts are confident that ad based campaigns will see its strongest gains in 2019 – up by 18.3%. Furthermore, Moffett Nathanson Research indicates that outdoor LED signs will take over the share of advertising held by traditional television within the next couple of years. By the end of 2020, out-of-home advertising will hold 54% of the share, traditional TV to 31%, 10% for traditional media and 4% for print advertising.
New Trends in Omnichannel Advertising
Multimedia ads, native advertising and other influencer advertising will be a part of the new trends in advertising. Trends are also towards companies focusing more on the overall brand rather than certain products.
According to research from AdWeek, 62% of companies are somehow involved in an omnichannel marketing strategy while 70% companies regard omnichannel strategies as critical for success.
Brands will try to create a smooth transition between the channels – desktop, mobile and in-store experiences.
Moving on, another hot topic in the digital world is the concept of privacy and security with regard to the data and information available online. Who does it belong to? How should it be used? How do we protect it? Players of the digital signage market and commercial AV sectors have to keep in mind these data-related concerns.
Data protection in the digital signage market
In May 2018, the EU put into place a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Data security principles included were:
- Lawfulness and transparency
- Fairness
- Data quality
- Data minimization
- Purpose limitation
- Integrity and security
When conducting online business, it is important for a firm to make sure that customer data is processed in a secure manner, with protection against unlawful processing, accidental loss or damage.
According to the GDPR, data protection can be achieved in the following ways:
- Interactivity increases as a result of personalization
- Operational tools
- ROI considerations as a backbone of content strategies
- Increase in predicting behavior
- Content personalization boosted with artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Expanded use of virtual assistants.
Hardware trends
- Rise in 4k screens larger than 32 inches.
- Bezels are already thin but they will get to ‘near’ zero standard.
- Video walls will see a double digit growth.
- Electronic paper technology will be seen (in full color versions) more in applications such as informational signs where full motion video is not needed, instead low power, high contrast and good visibility is essential.
Projection trends
- Should be capable of blending displays to provide a massive video wall effect.
- Pixel mapping with special effects to achieve unique outcomes.
- Projection for brighter environments with ambient light rejection (ALR) screens.
- Solid state illumination is required to reduce brightness decay in lamps.
- Holographic images will become extremely popular. These are thin bladed fans embedded with LEDs which rapidly spin in order to create floating images that can also mimic 3D if correctly done.
